OVER 2 YOU, 143 (19/08/03)

EXCEL BORDERS

In Excel you can put borders around squares and they can be changed by going to 'format', 'cells', then 'borders', however this is very long winded when not every cell is bordered. There must be a way (surely) to set as default the line style you require?

Cathy Turner, via email

Try placing the Borders icon on your toolbar. In Excel, click Tools, Customise and select the Commands tab.  In the Categories window, choose Format, then in the Commands window scroll down until you find the Borders icon.  This has a right-pointing black triangle at the right-hand end of the line.  Drag the Borders icon up to a suitable position on your toolbar and release it.  The Borders icon enables you to immediately format selected cells with your chosen style of border. The last style used is always remembered, and there is a drop-down menu to choose other line and border styles.  On later versions of Excel, there is also a Draw Borders option, which allows you to freehand draw a border around any shape of cells.

Geoff & Alison Winks

Cathy Turner is correct - there is a simple way to copy cell formatting, not just borders, to other cells. Adjust the formatting on one cell as required and then click on the 'format painter' button. The cursor changes to a big cross and paintbrush symbol, which can then be used to select as many cells as desired - all of which will be reformatted to match that of the original cell. The format painter can also be used in conjunction with the column and row headings to reformat larger areas, or even the 'select all' button (to the left of A and above 1) to reformat the whole sheet in one go!

Using this simple technique, Cathy may not need to change the default border settings after all. However, if she still does want to, she simply needs to create a 'default workbook template' by formatting a workbook as required and then saving it as an Excel template with the filename Book.xlt in the XLStart folder. From then on, every new workbook she opens will have the desired formatting.
Vivian Dunn

As far as I'm aware, it is not possible to save the line style as such.  However, what you can do is produce a blank pro-forma with the same borders and lines for each cell, which presumably will give you want you want.

Once all the data had been entered on the worksheet, go to Format > Cells > Borders and enter the desired lines, borders, etc.  Save this document. Press Ctrl + A (to highlight the whole document) and then Delete.  All data will be deleted but all the worksheet formatting (including the lines and borders for each individual cell) will be retained. Save this document and use it as a pro-forma for future documents.

Andy Wallace, Leigh-on-sea, Essex

Quickly applying a "default" border (or any other cell format) to cells in Excel can be solved by recording a macro.Open a new workbook, select any cell and then go to the Tools menu, choose Macro, then Record New Macro. When the Record Macro window opens, name the macro something suitable like "Default Border", then choose a shortcut key, say a.  Choose "Personal Macro Workbook" from the "Store Macro In" drop down list.  Then click OK. Now use Format, Cells, Border in the usual way to set up the required border style in the cell already selected.  When the style is right, go to Tools, Macro, Stop Recording.  Close Excel, and when prompted to save changes to Personal Macro Workbook, choose Yes. This macro should then be available in all Excel workbooks and any cell can be given the default border simply by selecting it and pressing Ctrl + a.
Alastair Walter

CARTRIDGE RECYCLING

I have two Brother laser printers (HL-1440 and HL-760). No organisation or charity seems interested in recycling toner cartridges or printer drums. Is there anyone out there whom I can give them to? 

Julian Treluggan, via email

The British Red Cross has a recycling programme for Inkjets, Toner Cartridges and Mobile Phones.  To obtain details of the scheme, Julian Treluggan should contact the fundraiser at his local branch of the Red Cross. Branch locations and phone numbers are listed on the 'Where we are' page of the British Red Cross web site - www.redcross.org.uk
John McNeil, Senior Fundraiser, British Red Cross, Hertford

I use a company called "Reclaim-it" which takes ink cartridges (and mobiles) and sends money to one's nominated charity. You can contact them on 01635 876900. They might be interested in toner cartridges?

Brian Wainwright

The RSPCA are happy to be given these, they accumulate a reasonable quantity which is what the recyclers want.

Jerry Sanders

We collect used inkjet and toner cartridges for a very worthwhile charity and they could be worth up to £5 each for our appeal. We can collect used cartridges or provide collecting boxes; for more details call Adele Hilton on 0161 276 8066 or contact Children’s Hospital Appeals Trust, The Lodge, Manchester Royal Infirmary, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9WL

Fred Owen, Knutsford

LaserCare Anglia Ltd, East Anglia's leading cartridge remanufacturer, would be delighted to receive your empty toners and used drums for recycling and return them to you at a fraction of the new price. Re-use of such products is enormously beneficial for the environment. For more information contact:

Alan Castro

POTTERY PROGRAM

Can anyone recommend a database type program that will enable me to record all the types of pots that were made at a local pottery in the 19th and 20th centuries? I need to include photos and for pots that have a continuously varying decoration, a brief video of the piece being rotated. Variations in size, capacity, prices, marks and names, together with their appropriate dates will also need to be recorded. I would like to be able to display this information on a page, with a commentary.
John Giblin, via email

Pretty much any database system can be used with the data you need to store, right up to where you want to record still images and video. At this point there are two solutions.

1) Record the name and path to the video/image in the database and store the video outside of the database as a normal file

2) Store the video/image within the database system itself. Most enterprise database systems can accomplish this task.

Deciding which database system to use depends on a number of factors: number of users, expected amount of data, and availability of system. If the software is for personal use or a small office, products such as Sybase Adaptive Server Anywhere should be considered. Its requirements are small and it is largely self-maintaining.

A larger system could use MS SQL Server, Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise or Oracle. However these systems require more hands-on management and have a substantially higher price.

The design of the database should be along the following:

A table to hold the pot details
A table to hold the images
A table to hold the video
A table to hold the commentary

Due to the way databases allocate space, it is much more efficient to split actual data about the pot away from video, images and audio commentary.

The products mentioned here are only database engines and a front end will need to be written or purchased to view the data.
Richard W. Crossley, Principle Consultant DNM Technology, Dublin

CAR RENTAL

We own a small car rental firm – about a dozen cars -- and we are looking for software that will tell us what cars is available and when. All of the
systems we’ve looked at are far too sophisticated for our purposes.  Can anyone suggest a simple program that will tell us who has our cars and on what dates?
Keith Chapman, via email

If Mr. Chapman is interested I developed a database for a local holiday cottage company. It is used to track reservations for about 20 properties and maintains a customer database. It could easily be used to track car rentals in place of property reservations.
Darren Athersmith

CAN YOU HELP?

I am told that my old (circa 1960) Philips reel-to-reel tape recorder cannot be repaired. The machine had three speeds and I have some 7-inch diameter tapes recorded at 1 7/8 feet per second. (I think the ‘standard’ speed in those days was 3 3/4 feet per second). Does anyone know of a machine that could play my tapes at the slow speed, or is there another solution?

Douglas Lumb, Shipley

We run a monthly mixed tennis tournament, with differing numbers of participants, playing mixed doubles. Can anyone suggest a simple program that will enable players to play with the maximum number of different partners, whilst avoiding clashes.

Many thanks

Jeff Dowson.

Recently I brought disks containing Gujarati fronts from Terafont Software in India. I have tried to load them into my computer but without success. Does anyone have any experience of installing and using Gujarati fonts on a Windows PC?

L. S. Shah, via email